Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix
Thank you for the reviews!
Meriadoc / Celithrathien: thank you for your kind words and no, English isn't my first language. I do try to watch my grammar, but obviously, some mistakes are still eluding me... As for the sequence of sentences you pointed out, argh, I didn't notice it at all! Very funny, though totally unintentionnally...
The look on Vincent and Gregory's faces was priceless when Hermione entered the Great Hall the following morning, proudly wearing her Gryffindor collar. They gagged audibly, shocked beyond comprehension as she winked at them, and they were ready to rush toward her when Severus's hands fell on their shoulders.
"Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, if you would follow me to my office…"
In good Slytherins, they already knew they had lost the game, but they intended to play it until the end. When they saw the Pensieve and a letter with Draco's handwriting on it, they surrendered. Severus just crossed his arms on his chest and looked at them expectedly.
"Anything to say?"
Gregory, who had been better that Vincent in hiding his cleverness from everybody, slowly shook his head, already knowing that there was nothing to be done. He had also seen the document with the seals on the desk facing them and he had understood that Severus knew everything. Vincent didn't surrender so easily.
"My father is still free!"
Severus had to fight hard against the grin that threatened to appear on his lips. He took a parchment from his pocket, opened it and made as if he was perusing it for the first time.
"It's a letter sent by the Aurors Moody and Tonks," he informed them calmly. "Ah, there. The Death Eater known as Jonathon Crabbe has finally been captured tonight and is to receive the Dementor's Kiss this morning at dawn. It's over, Mr. Crabbe."
What Severus didn't say was that Alastor Moody had written that Jonathon Crabbe had tried to vindicate himself by accusing the Potions Master, but on a 'clumsiness' from Tonks, he had been rendered speechless. Alastor expressed his doubts on the reliability of Tonks's wand, which seemed to cast spells without its owner actually wording them. Severus had almost laughed out loud when he had read the wry words from the old Auror. The two men had never liked each other – and Alastor more than once had treated Severus as if he was still a despicable Death Eater rather than a spy for the Order – but since the Dark Lord's disappearance, the old Auror had seemed to come to peace to the fact that he was working with Severus rather than against him.
"Alright," muttered Vincent resentfully, "we won't warn the Ministry about you. But we could still tell them about Granger!"
"I would seriously advise you against such a decision, Mr. Crabbe. If I hear a single word about Miss Granger's abilities, you will be gone from Hogwarts even before the Ministry could have decided what to do about Miss Granger. I guess it's useless to add that if you leave Hogwarts, it will only be for Azkaban."
"Don't tempt your luck, Vince," hissed Gregory quietly. "He's letting us out easily. Come. Thank you for the warning, Professor Snape."
"I'm glad to see that we are able to understand each other, Mr. Goyle. Oh, by the way, since now your pretence is over as your intelligence, please let your studies take advantage of it."
Gregory nodded and followed Vincent out of Severus's office.
"One last thing, Mr. Goyle. The place of Slytherin King doesn't have to belong to Mr. Riddle. You could easily replace Mr. Malfoy for this year, provided that you lead your fellow Slytherins on a safe way without them losing the face."
Gregory's eyes widened slightly before he nodded in understanding. Severus grinned inwardly. For what he knew of the new Tom, he would love the competition from Gregory; he hadn't really appreciated being propelled Slytherin King without any fight.
There was still one sore point with Albus and it was linked to Hermione's status. He disapproved of the young witch spending too much time with his Potions Master, but it didn't stop Hermione from coming. Especially that Minerva had taken their side against Albus. She had been more than agreeably surprised when she had noticed that since Voldemort's disappearance, Severus had been fairer with the other Houses. Not that he still wasn't favouring his Slytherins, but it wasn't as blatantly obvious as before. He was still odious in class, but then, Potions were a dangerous field of study.
Apparently, Hermione had also told her of Severus letting her free and Minerva had appreciated the gesture from her stern colleague. She had reunited the whole staff and, even though they were still on Albus's side, all the teachers were more than glad to give a hand in protecting Severus and Hermione from him. The Headmaster had played too many tricks on them for them not to be willing to get back at him, if only once.
Even Sybill grinned happily at the idea she could do something to go against Albus's wishes. True, he had kept her in Hogwarts all those years to protect her from Voldemort, but then he had suggested the idea she act like an old fool to make people believe she was nothing but a fraud. Now that she had dropped the act – gone were the huge glasses making her look like an insect, gone were the spooky manner, the misty voice and the ridiculous clothing – her retorts were wry and humorous, her voice soft and warm and she never spoke of her Inner Eye anymore. Curiously, she went along with Firenze very well, both of them sharing their ideas on Divination, which often led to passionate debates.
On the other hand, Hermione was literally invisible when she came to Severus, since she still used Harry's Invisibility Cloak. But, each time she was in Albus's presence, or entering the Great Hall, lights were twinkling as to welcome her, the magnificent sky ceiling turned sun bright, Hogwarts clearly recognising her. It annoyed Albus to no end. She wasn't yet too obvious, since she didn't want the whole student body to know, but then Albus was quick to notice the manifestations of joy from the castle.
Then, two weeks after those manifestations started to show a little bit too much, there was nothing. Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast and the sky remained grey and rainy. The room wasn't brighter in any way; nothing had changed at all. Albus's eyes shone with hope. The absence of any sign from Hogwarts reassured the Headmaster that indeed, the reversing potion had finally been brewed and that the result was successful. The staff shared secret smiles and continued as if nothing had changed.
Time passed, Hermione and Severus still being careful in deceiving Albus. The burn on Severus's arm slowly healed, revealing that his Dark Mark hadn't disappeared entirely. It was now almost invisible and Severus discovered that it was getting paler and paler with time passing by. That was one of the other things he didn't see useful to share with Albus.
As the staff was on Hermione and Severus's side, the Gryffindor witch spent lots of time with each of them, including Sybill and Firenze and she learnt to know the Divination teachers. Firenze mentioned once in passing that he regretted not being able to go back to the Forbidden Forest, but then his herd had exiled him. That very day, Hermione began thinking of a plan and went through it to be sure it couldn't fail.
Severus accepted to go with her in the Forbidden Forest again. He cast the spell of purification on her and levitated her in the clearing where was Firene's grave. She choked back a sob and murmured a quick prayer, while brushing her fingers against the cool stone. Only moments after, a shining silver flute was in her hands and she was playing as if she had been calling unicorns to her for her whole life.
They came, even though Severus was here. They came because they couldn't do otherwise than answer to the song of the unicorn, because they couldn't avoid being drawn to her purity. When Severus had healed her, he had promised to himself that, if she came back to him, he wouldn't touch her until she had graduated and he held to his promise, no matter what. Thus they came, arrogant and as magnificent as Firene had been, but to her eyes, they were only pale copies of his glory.
"Thou callest for us, daughter of the unicorns," said the leader quite reluctantly, his voice lower than Firene's had been.
"I have a request, o shining one," she replied softly. "A deserving friend of mine belonged to the centaurs herd. Couldst thou intervene in his favour so he could come back?"
"Why would I do so for thee, daughter of the unicorns?"
"Because then I would return to thy people two young ones my lord Firene asked me to care for," she said confidently.
"There is no place among humans for one of us, but thy plea is useless. Firene, who betrayed his kind, used all the favours the centaurs owed us."
"Then maybe it would be of some use that, not only I am soul mate of the daughter of the unicorns, but also bound to Bane of the centaurs," intervened Severus.
"Thou art dark and still reekest of evil even though the purity of phoenix tears and freely given unicorn blood took thee out of thy pit of despair," said the unicorn with disdain.
Hermione frowned.
"Forgive my calling, then, o shining one. I would not see my siblings living in such arrogance as thou showest now. I should rather have asked the centaurs themselves. I thank thee for having answered my call, even though it was in vain. Fare thee well, shining one."
Before the unicorn, outraged, could answer, Severus felt a quiet presence in his mind become suddenly very active.
"Are you crazy, human? What are you trying to do?"
"Bring back Firenze among his herd, where he belonged. He should never have left. Albus – the Headmaster – played once again with things bigger than he could master. He wanted to keep his hold on the school and called on Firenze, probably being sorry for him being cast out, but not caring much more than this,"
Bane's voice was silent for a moment.
"Then, if my brother did an honourable thing, maybe we could forgive him. We did intervene in favour of humans too, after all. Furthermore I cannot judge him, since I am bound to a human."
"I will not tell such a thing to Magorian."
"You told the unicorn, even though Magorian swore that never he would listen to a unicorn once again. I will plead your cause, human, or rather, I will plead Firenze's cause. Have him live near the Forbidden Forest, behind the hut of Hagrid, and tell him that this is no trap."
"Thank you, Bane."
"Do not thank me. I do not do this for you, but for my brother. But I do not wish to hear from you anymore."
"It will be done,"
When his vision cleared again, the clearing was empty except for Hermione, who was kneeling in front of Firene's grave. She smiled up at him.
"I told off this arrogant new lord. The foals will remain with me. Never will I let them go back to such a stupid and narrow-minded herd!"
"Bane will take care of things for Firenze."
"I'm glad."
They were alone and Severus saw the occasion for asking a question he had been wondering about for quite a long time. He sat next to her.
"Hermione… When I gave you the choice… why did you choose me? Why me, Hermione? I'm not exactly a young woman's perfect man."
"True," she replied, a smile tugging at her lips. "You're rather… homely."
He snorted, but decided to wait so he would see where she was going.
"But I like your hands and your eyes," she continued, her own eyes gleaming impishly. "And if I have enough Butterbeer, I can even find something interesting in your nose."
He was surprised that she chose to tell him about what she liked rather than criticise the obvious – his greasy hair, sallow skin and crooked teeth – like the others usually did.
"But then I don't really care for looks. I'm not much myself. If you remember well, I went to the Yule Ball with Viktor and I can't say he's handsome either."
"Well, no, but he was a Quidditch star. That made him handsome enough for lots of girls. I'm no Quidditch star."
"What, never heard of Severus Snape, Chaser of the Chuddley Cannons?" she teased gently.
"I was a Keeper, I'll have you know!"
She chuckled.
"Honestly, if I cared for the looks, I'd go to Harry – apparently, seeing his popularity, he became quite attractive – or Terry," she added mischievously, knowing that Terry was a sore spot for him.
Her words triggered a memory in him…
"Honestly, Rowena, why me?"
"That's already the third time you ask me this week."
"And I will probably ask you three more times before the end of the week."
"Well, I don't know. You're not handsome. Nice dark eyes, though, and soft lips," she added teasingly, leaning forward to kiss him. "You're quite looking like an overgrown bat, all in all, including the dark complexion. But…"
"But?" he probed gently.
The haunted look in his eyes melted her heart. He could be so confident about many things, but as soon as it was about love, he thought he was undeserving.
"But there's something in you that calls to me and I can't fight it. You're intelligent, with challenging ideas; you have a strange sense of honour, which intrigues me, appeals to me and irritates me all at once. You have principles I can't understand, but I respect you for them, because you'd stand for them no matter what. And behind all that… there is a man who gave me his heart and who makes me feel alive just by his mere presence. How could I not love him? How you could I not love "Because I'm not the handsome prince of your dreams," he replied bitterly.
Her lips pursed in disgust.
"Pshaw! If I wanted a handsome man, I'd go to Godric. But I want you, Salazar, my tall and dark wizard, my personal overgrown bat, my very love… You're stuck with me, Salazar, unless you don't want me anymore, but I'm not going anywhere without you."
Then, at last, Salazar Slytherin smiled and took her in his arms.
"You are not going to go anywhere near Gryffindor," he murmured fiercely.
Hermione looked at Severus.
"All that she said. Except for the dark complexion and that she forgot about your impossible temper."
"Salazar wasn't a Death Eater," he reminded her.
"Salazar didn't turn spy twenty years ago to redeem himself either. He didn't have a body covered with more scars and bruises than I can count."
"So it's pity you feel," he growled.
"Pity? You don't deserve pity. It would be insulting you. You made a wrong choice and then you made another choice, trying to make things right. Now you're paying the price for those choices. I can't say I understand your first choice, but I understand your second choice and I respect you for it. I respect you and admire you for going through with it no matter what, even when it's about saving the son of a man you hated."
He shook his head in wonder.
"You're unbelievable."
"So that's why you never acknowledged me when I was waving my hand in your classes. You just could believe I was here," she said wryly.
He could help it and laughed. She loved his laughter.
"I didn't do it on purpose," she added quietly. "It just happened. I'm not mocking you or anything."
"I know. And I forbid you to go to Potter."
He leaned toward her and added in a fierce whisper:
"Or anyone else, especially Gryffindor, for that matter."
His face only inches from hers, he said:
"It seems that Salazar and Rowena didn't let us alone in our minds, finally."
He was observing her intently and she shrugged lightly.
"They didn't leave the castle. They're hiding in some dark corner, which is probably off-limits to any human. I think I could ask the Bloody Baron to find them, since he didn't really approve of how Salazar treated you. But then, I don't care. I didn't like the means they used, but I quite like the result it brought."
"I wish we could have saved on pain and tears, though."
She shrugged again and took his hand as he led her out of the Forbidden Forest.
The conversation in the Forbidden Forest had comforted him in the belief that, even if Rowena's spell on Hermione wasn't effective anymore, they were really meant for each other. So he took his decision all of the sudden and, instead of waiting for the appropriate moment, he strode along the corridors, looking for her. He grabbed her just before she entered her Transfiguration class and pulled her to him. Without caring for the gasps of her classmates, he kissed her gently on the lips, then traced her jawbone and nibbled gently on her earlobe.
"Marry me," he whispered in her ear.
He released her and left without waiting. Looking back above his shoulder, he saw her standing at the entrance of the classroom, looking completed dazzled. Then Harry dragged her inside and the door closed.
The whole day was a torture for him, but he had no doubts that she was feeling the same. He felt like he had taken too many leaps of faith recently. He had let her go once, but she had come back to him even so. Now, once again, it was up to her and he didn't think he would be able to go on if she refused. He would turn back to the bitter and prejudiced wizard that he believed himself to be deep inside, no matter how often she assured him of the contrary.
Despite his distraction, his classes went normally, without any incident. He was a nervous wreck by the end of the day, wondering if the fact that she still hadn't come to him meant that she had refused his proposal. True, it wasn't romantic or feet-sweeping, but she knew that he would never do such things.
Slowly, he made his way to the Great Hall for dinner. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her in front of him. The dying of the whispers gave him away and she turned around to face him. She reached for him and kissed him forcefully. Hope surged through him. He felt her lips brush against his ear and then, she whispered three little words:
"Where and when?"
It was all he needed.